168 Hours
by all-dem-fandoms
Summary: When Tobias wakes up in a new world cold, confused and haunted by vivid dreams of Tris he finds himself in the creepiest situation. The people there know him. Not because of the Chicago Experiment but they read about him. For fun. But alas, he must put his confusion aside for he only has 168 hours to save the one he loves most. ALLEGIANT SPOILERS.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Greeting so I finished Allegiant and I'm not very happy. I mean the whole rest of the book BEYOND PERFECT LIKE THE STORY WAS GREAT AND FOURTRIS ASGJ BUT THAT ENDING HOW ABOUT no. So this is going to be fantasy and actiony and it's going to have ghosts and demons and monsters so if you find mixing scifi and fantasy annoying ( idk why you'd hate that best of both world yknow) then don't read it. What element I think is hit or miss is that I AM PUTTING TOBIAS FROM THE FACTIONS INTO REAL LIFE and he's gonna be a cutie because he's naïve to our world and go on an adventure with some ocs as a quest to save Tris' soul from eternal life in the Between ( basically a whirlwind of lost souls like in the ending of the video game Beyond: Two Souls) but anyway I'm to shut my trap and let you guys read now!**

_And I still can't let you be_

_Most nights I hardly sleep_

_Don't take what you don't need from me._

_It's just a drop in the ocean_

_A change in the weather_

_I was praying that you and I might end up together_

_It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert_

_But I'm holding you close than most 'cause you are my heaven. _

_-Ron Pope "A Drop In the Ocean." _

**PROLOGUE **

**TOBIAS**

I could see her blonde head hopelessly trying to push herself through the hoards of people, but they are all too broad and tall for her to make any sort of progress. Seeing her, even her beautiful back, sends tremors of emotion through me. After _it _happened and I began to see her in dreams and that sort of thing I was so angry, furious that after all we had gone through back in the City she had to sacrifice herself. The anger melted away and it just became a mutual sadness, the kind that weighed your shoulders down and hits you at random times. I wish had had an inspirational story to tell but I don't. She was my first anyone, my first anything. I want to move on sometimes but I also have this air of sadness that speaks "I don't care," All I really want is her.

I have this particular dream a lot. She never reaches me. It hurts. I usually see her blonde head, a streak of gold in the darkness and it shines just it did on our last morning together. A few times I've gotten to see a flash of her eyes. They're always wide and a clear blue-gray color that reminds me of dawn. After I saw her eyes for the first time in this particular dream my thoughts of her appearance changed. I used to think she was bird-like the way she sat on the edge of her chair, her light weight always ready for flight. It's different now, just like everything else. I did some research on that animal I saw the time I visited the Fringe, a deer, and I've found that she is just like it. The way she moves –moved so swiftly. From her wide curious eyes down to her slight muscular body she resembles the woodland animal. I can see her eyes tonight.

I become aware of her shouting, shouting my name, as she tries to break through the crowd. "Please!" she cries. "I need to see him please!" I recoil at the sound of her voice, so musical even in what sounds close to tears. It's selfish but I can't help wanting to hear her yell, I want to hear her voice just a little more. But alas these dreams are like a drug, you give a person a little of something and all they want is more more more.

I press my lips together and turn away from the crowd, willing myself to wake up but part of me doesn't want to. Any form of her will quench the monster of grief and sadness that hides inside. Something turns me around. It's her. My whole being aches and I pull my arms around her. I dismiss shock. She has never gotten this close to me in my dreams. She could never fight the crowd. My tears fall into her corn silk colored hair as I smooth it over repeatedly. She mumbles something. I mumble something too. I mumble her name, something I haven't dared to speak not even in my thoughts or dreams, over and over. "My Tris," Holy words. She pulls away, my face between her hands.

"Tobias," when she says my name, even if it's not real, I can feel something breaking inside of me, something ripping a whole in my chest. "Tobias you need to help me," Her tone is urgent and there is a wild look in her eyes… Fear.

"I'm sorry," I cry, taking her hands. "I'm so, so sorry, I should've been there. I should've stopped you," My vision is so blurry with tears her perfect face is just a blob of disordered colors.

"Tobias, listen to me. I need your help. I need you to come for me," Her small porcelain colored fingers wipes my tears.

"You're gone Tris. I-I can't help you anymore. I want to so much, but I can't," I'm blinking away tears again. I hate that I can't help her. I want to wake up, and have this all be a nightmare. I want to wake up back in Dauntless, with her gathered in my arms with her initiation completed. I want to be able to wrap my arms around her in sleep, I want to live a normal life with her but I _can't. _

"I wasn't my time Tobias. My mother told me. She left, she went through the Rift. I'm stuck in the Between, Tobias. It hurts. You need to get me," She looks so delicate and scared when she talks. The hole in my chest widens. I don't know what she is talking about at all but I feel compelled to do exactly what she says. Tears pool in her eyes and it feels like she's dying all over again.

"How can I help?" I ask in the firm but gentle tone I've always saved just for her.

"The man with no face said attachments from all three worlds are needed. He said I only have a week until I'm here for good. I'll be a lost soul, caught between two worlds," One week. That's when they cremate her. They have some sort of body preserving spray at the Bureau, they insisted on keeping her preserved for a month after she died for anatomy studies. It's kind of weird and gross but it'll help the people of the future and I know she'd like to help. I only agreed on the terms that they wouldn't damage and that not a soul is to speak to me about it, what happens in the lab stays in the lab.

"How will I do it? I – I don't understand," This is just a dream. It's all a crazy dream.

"Look for the four of them, Tobias. They will help you in the other world. I believe in you," She gets up on her tiptoes and presses her mouth to mine. Even in a dream, even if I know it's not real her soft lips uncap a wild animal where my heart should be, and I have to resist the urge not to touch her all over like I did the last night we had together.

When she pulls away it's like fantasy breaking from reality as I feel myself regaining consciousness, and I swear I can her musical voice whispering "_be brave_," As I wake I can still feel her kiss on my mouth and her delicate hands dancing down my spine. I almost expect, more like wish, for me to wake in my old bed back in Dauntless that night she was ranked first in the blissful hours we spent kissing and laughing before the banquet, the first time she fell asleep in my arms and when I knew she couldn't hear whispering an almost inaudible _"I love you," _But I'm not and that's when things go horribly wrong. I feel damp grass under me in place of a bed and the sound of running water, almost like a much muted version of the Chasm fills my ear. I can only register one thought.

_I'm not home anymore. _

**This was kind of hard to write because I didn't know how to portray Tris as desperate and usually when I have dreams and people are talking it just sounds like theyre saying stuff to get to the point and not being wordy so I guess this is it. Hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Chapter 2

_An arrow can only be shot backwards_

_When life is dragging you back imagine you're shooting forward into something worth hitting._

_-anonymous _

**1**

**CHAROLETTE **

I close the book. A few things run through my mind as I place it next to me and pull my sheepskin boots over my blistered feet and carefully tucking the bottoms of the flannel pajama pants I "borrowed" from my brother, Noah, so they won't hit the wet ground when I go outside. I make my way through the house slowly, not even bothering to call someone and tell them I'll probably end up sleeping over someone's house tonight. I clutch the book into hands. 554 pages. It's orange with the design of a wave on the front, the raised chrome lettering reads "_Allegiant". _I waited nine months for this book to come out only for it to end without a happy ending and hurts so bad because I knew each and every character deserved one, well except maybe the evil ones but you get my point.

Pulling on a fleece lined zip up sweat shirt over my loose long sleeved white shirt I make sure the backdoor is unlocked and quickly scribble out a note saying I'm staying over my best friend Ella's for the night before leaving. _Yeah staying over so I can cry _I think grumpily as I venture out into the cold October air. As I trudge over towards the house to the left of my own the tears begin to form and heat my face up in the process. I angrily try to shake them off; this will not turn into a repeat of my reaction to _"The Fault in Our Stars." _Let's just say many tears were shed and no matter how fangirlish I am I've always been the tough one in our little group. Our little group consists of four people my twin brother Noah, my best friend and next door neighbor Ella, and our neighbor Gavin; we're just a few kids who like TV shows and books more than what's socially acceptable.

The nerves in my knuckles are sensitive from the cold when I knock on the door and it stings a little when my olive slightly freckled skin meets the pale yellow wood. Surprisingly my brother answers the door. "Why are you here?" I ask whisper-yell quickly. His eyebrows arch.

"So it's illegal now? And why are you crying?" Noah asks, his head tilting to the side quizzically in a way that annoys me _so_ much. Noah and I have pretty much the same coloring, our hair color is the same strange golden brown and pin straight, we both have olive skin with dark brown freckles coating the bridges of our noses, cheeks and shoulders but where Noah's eyes are warm brown mine are a strange pale shade of sea green.

"I am _not_ crying!" I scoff in denial. Noah's brown eyes narrow.

"Are too," Here we go again.

"Am not," I cross my arms over my chest.

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are. Too,"

"Am. No-,"

"What in the name of Pete is going on here?" Ella. Her curly black bob is pulled into a stubby ponytail and even with puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks she looks effortlessly perfect in pajama pants and a volleyball sweatshirt. Ella stands with her pale arms crossed over her chest. El is one of those people who are just solely _beautiful. _Add that to a great personality and you have just enough greatness for me never to live up to. My eye brows arch as if to say "_Name of Pete?" _and she just shrugs and the loosened strands of her short ponytail move a bit.

"Let's go inside," I mumble just as a flake of snow falls on the tip of my nose.

"Let me get this straight," I have taken leave in my usual spot within the four walls of Ella's family room. I sit curled up in a sheepskin blanket in a spot that I can see the TV perfectly from on the cream colored suede couch. Ella's mother, born in France, is an interior designer and owns the famous "Le Maison Aspect." A Home décor blog so Ella's whole house basically looks like it was ripped from the latest issue of "_Better Homes and Gardens." _ The family rooms walls are painted tangerine orange and the furniture is all white suede with light maple wood grain flooring and accents. Just like Ella and her mother it is effortlessly beautiful. The room is dark and the only current source of light is coming from an old episode of _Doctor Who _no one seems to be watching. "So… You finish Allegiant and instead of calling me, you're first and best friend you call my no good brother?"

"I needed someone to cuddle with," Her excuse is quick, she doesn't miss a beat.

"You could've cuddled with me!" I demand and tuck a lock of straight hair, dark brown in the sparse lighting, behind my ear.

"A boy. I needed to cuddle with a boy, okay? Why are you getting so worked up?" A boy? A boy. My brother is a boy. Oh. Ohhh. I see what's going on here. I'm still angry though. While she was "cuddling" my brother I spent the end of Allegiant (cue melodrama) alone with my thoughts and tears.

"I'm upset because could've cried with you! I finished the book tonight also and it was just as bad for me as it was for you. Except no cuddling, so it was worse. Defiantly worse," Ella mumbles an apology and crawls across the sectional to hug me and we briefly turn our attention to the TV as I sneak a glance at Noah pouting about Ella having moved.

"So where's Gavin then?" I break the silence. I hate silence. Ella's wide dark eyes turn to me.

"Gavin?" she asks. Ah, sometimes she's so naïve to my attempts of vengeful sass.

"Yeah you know ginger, skin that blends in with the snow, smells like Axe. You seemed to be having a little group party without me so I was wondering if Gavin showed up also," Before she can even roll her eyes through Gavin Clark actually walks in the room, fresh snowflakes glister and melt in his curly red locks, his eyes are the same mischievous hazel. He's still dressed in the same dark wash jeans, black Vans sneaker and black pea coat over a hunter green sweater that brings out the color in his eyes. We all groan when he turns in the lights attached to the ceiling fan.

"How'd you get in here?" Ella asks, squinting. Gavin slips off his coat and shoes, and neatly puts them in the built in cubbies next to the door.

"I heard this one's," he gestures to me, "Door slam, quite aggressively if I may add, so I decided to let myself in when I saw her come here. I was in the middle of a Minecraft Hunger Games match so this better be good," He becomes very serious at the last sentence, all business somehow. Ella sighs and points to her own hardcover copy of _Allegiant _that's sitting on the light Maplewood coffee table. He quickly gives out condolences and takes a spot next to me. Noah throws his hands up; clearly not liking the fact he's all alone on the other side of the couch. I stick my tongue out at him.

"What's up Charlotte?" Gavin whispers and scoots closer to me when Ella gets up and sits next to Noah again. Gavin pulls me closer to his side, his body is always warm. Being the weird anti-social freak I am I don't really know what to call Gavin. Ella calls him my boyfriend so I guess she's right since we've kissed and gone on a few arcade dates but truth be told the only thing that really counts to me is the lazy days when Ella is in the city with her mother and Noah's at a some sort of game and it's just us doing fankid stuff and dorking out together. That's what a relationship is to me. The nicknames are also a big part of it. To Ella I'm Char to my brother I'm Charlie but to him I'm Charlotte. The beautiful simplicity of my name on his lips can brighten my mood anytime.

So we stay like that, Gavin holds me against him, my head against his chest and Ella ends up putting an action movie on Netflix. I don't pay attention of course. My mind is still on the book and how truly _unfair _the ending is, not just for the readers and fans but for the characters. They deserved their happy ending. I sigh against Gavin's chest and he plants a kiss atop my head. I feel the tendrils of sleep pulling at me and I almost give into the lulling darkness until I hear the movie pause.

When I peel my eyes open I see that Noah is on his feet and staring out the window next to the door that leads into the backyard. "Did you hear that?" He asks and turns to us. Ella is about to speak but Noah brings a finger to his lips. I _can _hear it. The faintest sound of something splashing in the creek that runs behind our houses. I stare at Noah.

"So the water is making noise. Big deal," I mumble and turn back into Gavin's chest and try to fall asleep, but I think we all know our stupid teenage curiosity will get the best of us and none of us will be able to sleep until we've seen with our own eyes that the outside life is clear.

I was right. I don't think any of us slept well that night with thoughts of someone outside haunting us. You can call us Pansycakes or whatever but when you go through eight seasons of _Supernatural _you learn to always be cautious of strange bumps in the night. Sure enough when we were all awake that morning there was some wordless agreement that we'd go scope around in the woods where the creek lies with daylight on our side.

Ella who is quite the wizard with a few eggs and some flour made waffles better than any sixteen-year-old I've ever seen for us as we discussed Allegiant. Yes, our sleepovers usually include talking about books. What did you expect from a few antisocial balls of hate, weed and vodka?

And then we were outside. It was cold and my sheepskin boots kept my feet warm but my pajama bottoms were surprisingly thin for flannels. Gavin kept me close at my side as we walk along the creek bank. I walk right past her, him, it, whatever, but it twitches the slightest bit and I spin around again. There's a bit of dirt smudged across his normal toned skin and I could recognize the slightly curly dark hair and deep blue eyes anywhere. It is a he and it isn't just any he.

He's Tobias Eaton.


	3. Chapter 3

_"cold is the night without you here  
just your absence ringing in my ears  
hard is the heart that feels no fear  
without the bad, the good disappears_

long is the road that leads me home  
and longer still when I walk alone  
bitter is the thought of all that time  
spent searching for something I'll never find"

-The Oh Hellos, "Cold Is the Night"

I was still a bit sluggish from sleep but I could almost _sense _the nearing presence of another human being. I could hear the quiet footsteps and like the idiot I am after just waking up I choose flight instead of fight. As I try to shift stealthily, and fail, the ground under me rustles and I can hear the people stop. Lying as flat as I can I know I'm a sitting duck. If it was nighttime I would've had the maze of trees and darkness on my side but in the, quite beautiful if I may add, morning light my dark sweat pants and crisp gray-blue t-shirt stick out like a sore thumb. I wear gray blue a lot, the same color her beautiful eyes were. I stay completely still as they walk by. There are four of them two boys and two girls who all look like they've recently woken up.

One of them stops.

She's a girl no taller than Tris was. Her eyes are large and a strange pale green-blue that look peculiar but attractive against her tan skin and I stop to wonder how a girl so tan could be freckled the way she is. The others keep walking but I nervously begin to get up. Her eyes widen even more and she stares at me with this look of recognition that chills me to the bone. Her lips form a small word. Was it my name? How does she know my name? I have no way to ask her though because she passes out. Great.

Now her posse has noticed her absence and they come rushing at me, only to stop short like she did. God, I hope they all don't pass out on me. A taller rail thin girl mumbles a few not nice words when she sees me and the two boys lean down to the girl. "What are you doing here?" the taller girl asks, fumbling forward a little. I scratch behind my neck, searching for the right words. I can't just go around saying my dead girlfriend teleported me through a dream now can I?

"I-I have no idea I just woke up here. I just need to find my way home; I'm not looking for trouble." I keep my voice low and steady but the girl still seems shaken up. Oh great now I get to showcase my best talent (note the sarcasm.) Kindness. "My name is Tobias." I offer and hold my hand out to her. One of the boys, the dark haired one that resembles the fainter stands and narrows his eyes at me.

"Tobias? And your last name's Eaton right? You're from the future and you're such a hero blah blah blah. You really expect us to believe that?" My own eyes narrow at him.

"How the hell do you know who I am?" I ask. Truthfully I'm starting to get a bit nervous about this place and these people. I mean is it really natural for all these different breeds of trees to be growing in the same place?

"News flash Tobias Eaton is a _fictional character_ that _doesn't exist _and really only some who has gone totally psycho would go around telling people that he's a fictional character." My fists clench. Fictional character. Doesn't exist. I defiantly exist; I've felt enough pain in my life to establish that. I turn away from the stubborn boy and look at the awestruck girl with the unruly black hair who I seemed to just scare with my face. I tend to have that effect on people.

"I just need to get home, to Chicago, I don't even know how I got here!" She takes a deep breath and glances at the boy. The red head is still bent over the small girl.

"Come with us,"

The house is expertly decorated, I'll tell you that. After depositing who the redheaded boy referred to as Charlotte we take seats at the circular dining table the sits in the middle of a gray-purple room. I can sense the tension as we sit down, the girl speaks first.

"I'm Ella," I nod slightly trying to decipher the tint of an accent her voice carries.

"Gavin," The redhead introduces himself and he shakes my hand with a stronger grip than I'd expect from such a frail-looking kid. Ella elbows the other boy in the ribs, hard. He winces grumpily and sits up.

"My name is Noah." He grumbles. I resist the urge to glare at him. He is going to be trouble. I can tell Ella is about to interrogate me but something cuts her off. I turn in my seat to see little Charlotte; she stands a bit dazed, her eyes focused on me. I can't help comparing her to Tris, she's about her height but much more feminine looking, very curvy, but she looks so physically powerful with ox-like muscles.

"I've got a message for you." She says when her eyes lock on mine.

"It's from..." Charlotte looks almost pained; "It's from Beatrice Prior." Something crumbles inside of me at the sound of her name on the strangers lips. "She said you have a week. She said that we have to help you get her back."

Charlotte hits the floor once again.

**Sorry I haven't updated! I had regionals for dance (I placed 25th I'm going to North American Nationals! WOO!) school has been tough and my grandmother isn't doing well but I'llbe able to update a lot now and I've got a few other ideas in mind.**


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